Apparatus and method for conditionally enabling or disabling soft buttons

ABSTRACT

A method of operating a multifunction device includes displaying a soft keyboard having a plurality of buttons including one or more unconditionally enabled buttons and one or more conditionally enabled buttons. The method further includes detecting a first input with a first button at a first time; detecting a second input with a second button at a second time after the first time, where the second button is a conditionally enabled button; and in response to the detecting the second input with the second button at the second time: in accordance with a determination that the period of time between the first time and the second time is above a predefined threshold, activating the second button; and in accordance with a determination that the period of time between the first time and the second time is below the predefined threshold, preventing the second button from being activated.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/788,283, filed on May 26, 2010, which is a continuation of PCT PatentApplication No. PCT/US2010/020263, filed Jan. 6, 2010, which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This relates generally to electronic devices with touch-sensitivesurfaces, including but not limited to electronic devices withtouch-sensitive displays that can conditionally activate or deactivatesoft buttons on a displayed user interface, such as soft keys or otherobjects on a soft keyboard.

BACKGROUND

The use of touch-sensitive surfaces as input devices for computers andother electronic computing devices has increased significantly in recentyears. Exemplary touch-sensitive surfaces include touch pads and touchscreen displays. Such surfaces are widely used to manipulate userinterface objects on a display.

Exemplary manipulations include entering characters using one or moresoft keyboards. A user may need to perform such manipulations on userinterface objects in any program or application where character input isneeded.

But existing methods for using such keyboards are cumbersome andinefficient. For example, buttons for hiding the keyboard or switchingto a different language keyboard can be unintentionally activated whiletyping on the keyboard, which makes the text entry experience tediousand creates a significant cognitive burden on a user. In addition, someconventional methods take longer than necessary to complete a task,thereby wasting a user's time and a device's power reserve, which can beparticularly important consideration for battery-operated devices.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, there is a need for computing devices with faster, moreefficient methods and interfaces for activating buttons on a softkeyboard. Such methods and interfaces may complement or replaceconventional methods for activating buttons on a soft keyboard. Suchmethods and interfaces reduce the cognitive burden on a user and producea more efficient human-machine interface. For battery-operated computingdevices, such methods and interfaces conserve power and increase thetime between battery charges.

The above deficiencies and other problems associated with userinterfaces for computing devices with touch-sensitive displays (alsoknown, for example, as “touch screens” or “touch screen displays”) arereduced by the disclosed devices. In one example, a keyboard selectionbutton in a soft keyboard is temporarily disabled in response toactivation of certain other soft keyboard buttons (e.g., any of theletter buttons in the displayed soft keyboard), and is otherwise enabledfor activation. By conditionally disabling the keyboard selectionbutton, faster, more efficient typing by the user is enabled, andaccidental activations of the keyboard selection button are avoided.Another example of a conditionally enabled button that facilitatesfaster and more efficient typing by the user is a keyboard hidingbutton. Typically, users do not want to hide a soft keyboard whileactively typing, and therefore making the keyboard hiding button(whether displayed within a soft keyboard or elsewhere within a userinterface on a touch-sensitive display) a conditionally enabled buttonfacilitates faster and more efficient typing by the user, which in turnsaves energy and a device's power reserve.

In accordance with some embodiments, a method is performed at amultifunction device with a touch screen display. The method includesdisplaying a soft keyboard having a plurality of buttons including aplurality of unconditionally enabled buttons and one or moreconditionally enabled buttons, detecting a first input with a firstbutton at a first time, and responding to detecting the first input byactivating the first button. The method further includes detecting asecond input with a second button at a second time, and responding todetection of the second input with the second button at the second time.When the first button and second button are both unconditionallyenabled, the method activates the second button. However, when the firstbutton is an unconditionally enabled button and the second button is aconditionally enabled button, the method conditionally disables thesecond button. In particular, when the period of time between the firsttime and the second time is above a predefined threshold, the methodenables activation of the second button, and when the period of timebetween the first time and the second time is below the predefinedthreshold, the method disables activation of the second button.

In accordance with some embodiments, a method is performed at amultifunction device with a touch screen display. The method includesdisplaying a soft keyboard having a plurality of buttons including aplurality of unconditionally enabled buttons and one or moreconditionally enabled buttons detecting a first input with a respectiveunconditionally enabled button at a first time, and responding todetection of the first input at the first time by activating therespective unconditionally enabled button, and disabling at least one ofthe conditionally enabled buttons for a predefined period of timecommencing from the first time. The method further includes detecting asecond input with a conditionally enabled button disabled in response tothe first input, the second input being detected at a second time thatis within the predefined period of time, and responding to detection ofthe second input at the second time by disregarding the second input.

In accordance with some embodiments, a multifunction device includes atouch screen display, one or more processors, memory, and one or moreprograms; the one or more programs are stored in the memory andconfigured to be executed by the one or more processors and the one ormore programs include instructions for performing the operations of anyof the methods described above. In accordance with some embodiments, agraphical user interface on a multifunction device with a touch screendisplay, a memory, and one or more processors to execute one or moreprograms stored in the memory includes one or more of the elementsdisplayed in any of the methods described above, which are updated inresponse to inputs, as described in any of the methods above. Inaccordance with some embodiments, a computer readable storage medium hasstored therein instructions which when executed by a multifunctiondevice with a touch screen display, cause the device to perform theoperations of any of the methods described above. In accordance withsome embodiments, a multifunction device includes: a touch screendisplay; and means for performing the operations of any of the methodsdescribed above. In accordance with some embodiments, an informationprocessing apparatus, for use in a multifunction device with a touchscreen display, includes means for performing the operations of any ofthe methods described above.

Thus, multifunction devices with touch screen displays are provided withfaster, more efficient methods and interfaces for activating keys,thereby increasing the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfactionwith such devices. Such methods and interfaces may complement or replaceconventional methods for activating keys.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the aforementioned embodiments of theinvention as well as additional embodiments thereof, reference should bemade to the Description of Embodiments below, in conjunction with thefollowing drawings in which like reference numerals refer tocorresponding parts throughout the figures.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are block diagrams illustrating portable multifunctiondevices with touch-sensitive displays in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for eventhandling in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a portable multifunction device having atouch-sensitive display in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary multifunction device with adisplay and a touch-sensitive surface in accordance with someembodiments.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate exemplary user interfaces for a menu ofapplications on a portable multifunction device in accordance with someembodiments.

FIGS. 5A-5I illustrate exemplary user interfaces for activating buttonsin accordance with some embodiments.

FIGS. 6A-6B are flow diagrams illustrating a method of activatingbuttons in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of activating buttons inaccordance with some embodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following detaileddescription, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present inventionmay be practiced without these specific details. In other instances,well-known methods, procedures, components, circuits, and networks havenot been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspectsof the embodiments.

It will also be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc.may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements shouldnot be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguishone element from another. For example, a first contact could be termed asecond contact, and, similarly, a second contact could be termed a firstcontact, without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thefirst contact and the second contact are both contacts, but they are notthe same contact.

The terminology used in the description of the invention herein is forthe purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is notintended to be limiting of the invention. As used in the description ofthe invention and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an” and“the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless thecontext clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that theterm “and/or” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and allpossible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Itwill be further understood that the terms “includes,” “including,”“comprises,” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term “if” may be construed to mean “when” or “upon”or “in response to determining” or “in response to detecting,” dependingon the context. Similarly, the phrase “if it is determined” or “if [astated condition or event] is detected” may be construed to mean “upondetermining” or “in response to determining” or “upon detecting [thestated condition or event]” or “in response to detecting [the statedcondition or event],” depending on the context.

Embodiments of computing devices, user interfaces for such devices, andassociated processes for using such devices are described. In someembodiments, the computing device is a portable communications device,such as a mobile telephone, that also contains other functions, such asPDA and/or music player functions. Exemplary embodiments of portablemultifunction devices include, without limitation, the iPhone® and iPodTouch® devices from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Other portabledevices, such as laptops or tablet computers with touch-sensitivesurfaces (e.g., touch screen displays and/or touch pads), may also beused. It should also be understood that, in some embodiments, the deviceis not a portable communications device, but is a desktop computer witha touch-sensitive surface (e.g., a touch screen display and/or a touchpad).

In the discussion that follows, a computing device that includes adisplay and a touch-sensitive surface is described. It should beunderstood, however, that the computing device may include one or moreother physical user-interface devices, such as a physical keyboard, amouse and/or a joystick.

The device supports a variety of applications, such as one or more ofthe following: a drawing application, a presentation application, a wordprocessing application, a website creation application, a disk authoringapplication, a spreadsheet application, a gaming application, atelephone application, a video conferencing application, an e-mailapplication, an instant messaging application, a workout supportapplication, a photo management application, a digital cameraapplication, a digital video camera application, a web browsingapplication, a digital music player application, and/or a digital videoplayer application.

The various applications that may be executed on the device may use atleast one common physical user-interface device, such as thetouch-sensitive surface. One or more functions of the touch-sensitivesurface as well as corresponding information displayed on the device maybe adjusted and/or varied from one application to the next and/or withina respective application. In this way, a common physical architecture(such as the touch-sensitive surface) of the device may support thevariety of applications with user interfaces that are intuitive andtransparent to the user.

The user interfaces may include one or more soft keyboard embodiments.The soft keyboard embodiments may include standard (QWERTY) and/ornon-standard configurations of symbols on the displayed icons of thekeyboard, such as those described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/459,606, “Keyboards For Portable Electronic Devices,” filed Jul. 24,2006, and Ser. No. 11/459,615, “Touch Screen Keyboards For PortableElectronic Devices,” filed Jul. 24, 2006, the contents of which arehereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. The keyboardembodiments may include a reduced number of icons (or soft keys)relative to the number of keys in existing physical keyboards, such asthat for a typewriter. This may make it easier for users to select oneor more icons in the keyboard, and thus, one or more correspondingsymbols. The keyboard embodiments may be adaptive. For example,displayed icons may be modified in accordance with user actions, such asselecting one or more icons and/or one or more corresponding symbols.One or more applications on the device may utilize common and/ordifferent keyboard embodiments. Thus, the keyboard embodiment used maybe tailored to at least some of the applications. In some embodiments,one or more keyboard embodiments may be tailored to a respective user.For example, one or more keyboard embodiments may be tailored to arespective user based on a word usage history (lexicography, slang,individual usage) of the respective user. Some of the keyboardembodiments may be adjusted to reduce a probability of a user error whenselecting one or more icons, and thus one or more symbols, when usingthe soft keyboard embodiments.

Attention is now directed toward embodiments of portable devices withtouch-sensitive displays. FIGS. 1A and 1B are block diagramsillustrating portable multifunction devices 100 with touch-sensitivedisplays 112 in accordance with some embodiments. Touch-sensitivedisplay 112 is sometimes called a “touch screen” for convenience, andmay also be known as or called a touch-sensitive display system. Device100 may include memory 102 (which may include one or more computerreadable storage mediums), memory controller 122, one or more processingunits (CPU's) 120, peripherals interface 118, RF circuitry 108, audiocircuitry 110, speaker 111, microphone 113, input/output (I/O) subsystem106, other input or control devices 116, and external port 124. Device100 may include one or more optical sensors 164. These components maycommunicate over one or more communication buses or signal lines 103.

It should be appreciated that device 100 is only one example of aportable multifunction device, and that device 100 may have more orfewer components than shown, may combine two or more components, or mayhave a different configuration or arrangement of the components. Thevarious components shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B may be implemented inhardware, software, or a combination of both hardware and software,including one or more signal processing and/or application specificintegrated circuits.

Memory 102 may include high-speed random access memory and may alsoinclude non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storagedevices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state memorydevices. Access to memory 102 by other components of device 100, such asCPU 120 and the peripherals interface 118, may be controlled by memorycontroller 122.

Peripherals interface 118 can be used to couple input and outputperipherals of the device to CPU 120 and memory 102. The one or moreprocessors 120 run or execute various software programs and/or sets ofinstructions stored in memory 102 to perform various functions fordevice 100 and to process data.

In some embodiments, peripherals interface 118, CPU 120, and memorycontroller 122 may be implemented on a single chip, such as chip 104. Insome other embodiments, they may be implemented on separate chips.

RF (radio frequency) circuitry 108 receives and sends RF signals, alsocalled electromagnetic signals. RF circuitry 108 converts electricalsignals to/from electromagnetic signals and communicates withcommunications networks and other communications devices via theelectromagnetic signals. RF circuitry 108 may include well-knowncircuitry for performing these functions, including but not limited toan antenna system, an RF transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner,one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a CODEC chipset, asubscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory, and so forth. RFcircuitry 108 may communicate with networks, such as the Internet, alsoreferred to as the World Wide Web (WWW), an intranet and/or a wirelessnetwork, such as a cellular telephone network, a wireless local areanetwork (LAN) and/or a metropolitan area network (MAN), and otherdevices by wireless communication. The wireless communication may useany of a plurality of communications standards, protocols andtechnologies, including but not limited to Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), high-speeddownlink packet access (HSDPA), wideband code division multiple access(W-CDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multipleaccess (TDMA), Bluetooth, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) (e.g., IEEE 802.11a,IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g and/or IEEE 802.11n), voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP), Wi-MAX, a protocol for email (e.g., Internet messageaccess protocol (IMAP) and/or post office protocol (POP)), instantmessaging (e.g., extensible messaging and presence protocol (XMPP),Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and PresenceLeveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), Instant Messaging and Presence Service(IMPS)), and/or Short Message Service (SMS), or any other suitablecommunication protocol, including communication protocols not yetdeveloped as of the filing date of this document.

Audio circuitry 110, speaker 111, and microphone 113 provide an audiointerface between a user and device 100. Audio circuitry 110 receivesaudio data from peripherals interface 118, converts the audio data to anelectrical signal, and transmits the electrical signal to speaker 111.Speaker 111 converts the electrical signal to human-audible sound waves.Audio circuitry 110 also receives electrical signals converted bymicrophone 113 from sound waves. Audio circuitry 110 converts theelectrical signal to audio data and transmits the audio data toperipherals interface 118 for processing. Audio data may be retrievedfrom and/or transmitted to memory 102 and/or RF circuitry 108 byperipherals interface 118. In some embodiments, audio circuitry 110 alsoincludes a headset jack (e.g., 212, FIG. 2). The headset jack providesan interface between audio circuitry 110 and removable audioinput/output peripherals, such as output-only headphones or a headsetwith both output (e.g., a headphone for one or both ears) and input(e.g., a microphone).

I/O subsystem 106 couples input/output peripherals on device 100, suchas touch screen 112 and other input control devices 116, to peripheralsinterface 118. I/O subsystem 106 may include display controller 156 andone or more input controllers 160 for other input or control devices.The one or more input controllers 160 receive/send electrical signalsfrom/to other input or control devices 116. The other input controldevices 116 may include physical buttons (e.g., push buttons, rockerbuttons, etc.), dials, slider switches, joysticks, click wheels, and soforth. In some alternate embodiments, input controller(s) 160 may becoupled to any (or none) of the following: a keyboard, infrared port,USB port, and a pointer device such as a mouse. The one or more buttons(e.g., 208, FIG. 2) may include an up/down button for volume control ofspeaker 111 and/or microphone 113. The one or more buttons may include apush button (e.g., 206, FIG. 2). A quick press of the push button maydisengage a lock of touch screen 112 or begin a process that usesgestures on the touch screen to unlock the device, as described in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/322,549, “Unlocking a Device byPerforming Gestures on an Unlock Image,” filed Dec. 23, 2005, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. A longer press of thepush button (e.g., 206) may turn power to device 100 on or off. The usermay be able to customize a functionality of one or more of the buttons.Touch screen 112 is used to implement virtual or soft buttons and one ormore soft keyboards.

Touch-sensitive display 112 provides an input interface and an outputinterface between the device and a user. Display controller 156 receivesand/or sends electrical signals from/to touch screen 112. Touch screen112 displays visual output to the user. The visual output may includegraphics, text, icons, video, and any combination thereof (collectivelytermed “graphics”). In some embodiments, some or all of the visualoutput may correspond to user-interface objects.

Touch screen 112 has a touch-sensitive surface, sensor or set of sensorsthat accepts input from the user based on haptic and/or tactile contact.Touch screen 112 and display controller 156 (along with any associatedmodules and/or sets of instructions in memory 102) detect contact (andany movement or breaking of the contact) on touch screen 112 andconverts the detected contact into interaction with user-interfaceobjects (e.g., one or more soft keys, icons, web pages or images) thatare displayed on touch screen 112. In an exemplary embodiment, a pointof contact between touch screen 112 and the user corresponds to a fingerof the user.

Touch screen 112 may use LCD (liquid crystal display) technology, LPD(light emitting polymer display) technology, or LED (light emittingdiode) technology, although other display technologies may be used inother embodiments. Touch screen 112 and display controller 156 maydetect contact and any movement or breaking thereof using any of aplurality of touch sensing technologies now known or later developed,including but not limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared, andsurface acoustic wave technologies, as well as other proximity sensorarrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contactwith touch screen 112. In an exemplary embodiment, projected mutualcapacitance sensing technology is used, such as that found in theiPhone® and iPod Touch® from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.

A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of touch screen 112 may beanalogous to the multi-touch sensitive touchpads described in thefollowing U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. No. 6,323,846 (Westerman et al.), U.S.Pat. No. 6,570,557 (Westerman et al.), and/or U.S. Pat. No. 6,677,932(Westerman), and/or U.S. Patent Publication 2002/0015024A1, each ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. However,touch screen 112 displays visual output from portable device 100,whereas touch sensitive touchpads do not provide visual output.

A touch-sensitive display in some embodiments of touch screen 112 may beas described in the following applications: (1) U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/381,313, “Multipoint Touch Surface Controller,” filed May 2,2006; (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/840,862, “MultipointTouchscreen,” filed May 6, 2004; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/903,964, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jul. 30,2004; (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/048,264, “Gestures ForTouch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jan. 31, 2005; (5) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/038,590, “Mode-Based Graphical User InterfacesFor Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jan. 18, 2005; (6) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/228,758, “Virtual Input Device Placement On ATouch Screen User Interface,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; (7) U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/228,700, “Operation Of A Computer With A TouchScreen Interface,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; (8) U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/228,737, “Activating Virtual Keys Of A Touch-Screen VirtualKeyboard,” filed Sep. 16, 2005; and (9) U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/367,749, “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device,” filed Mar. 3, 2006. Allof these applications are incorporated by reference herein in theirentirety.

Touch screen 112 may have a resolution in excess of 100 dpi. In someembodiments, the touch screen has a resolution of approximately 160 dpi.The user may make contact with touch screen 112 using any suitableobject or appendage, such as a stylus, a finger, and so forth. In someembodiments, the user interface is designed to work primarily withfinger-based contacts and gestures, which can be less precise thanstylus-based input due to the larger area of contact of a finger on thetouch screen. In some embodiments, the device translates the roughfinger-based input into a precise pointer/cursor position or command forperforming the actions desired by the user.

In some embodiments, in addition to the touch screen, device 100 mayinclude a touchpad (not shown) for activating or deactivating particularfunctions. In some embodiments, the touchpad is a touch-sensitive areaof the device that, unlike the touch screen, does not display visualoutput. The touchpad may be a touch-sensitive surface that is separatefrom touch screen 112 or an extension of the touch-sensitive surfaceformed by the touch screen.

In some embodiments, device 100 may include a physical or virtual wheel(e.g., a click wheel) as input control device 116. A user may navigateamong and interact with one or more graphical objects (e.g., icons)displayed in touch screen 112 by rotating the click wheel or by moving apoint of contact with the click wheel (e.g., where the amount ofmovement of the point of contact is measured by its angular displacementwith respect to a center point of the click wheel). The click wheel mayalso be used to select one or more of the displayed icons. For example,the user may press down on at least a portion of the click wheel or anassociated button. User commands and navigation commands provided by theuser via the click wheel may be processed by input controller 160 aswell as one or more of the modules and/or sets of instructions in memory102. For a virtual click wheel, the click wheel and click wheelcontroller may be part of touch screen 112 and display controller 156,respectively. For a virtual click wheel, the click wheel may be eitheran opaque or semitransparent object that appears and disappears on thetouch screen display in response to user interaction with the device. Insome embodiments, a virtual click wheel is displayed on the touch screenof a portable multifunction device and operated by user contact with thetouch screen.

Device 100 also includes power system 162 for powering the variouscomponents. Power system 162 may include a power management system, oneor more power sources (e.g., battery, alternating current (AC)), arecharging system, a power failure detection circuit, a power converteror inverter, a power status indicator (e.g., a light-emitting diode(LED)) and any other components associated with the generation,management and distribution of power in portable devices.

Device 100 may also include one or more optical sensors 164. FIGS. 1Aand 1B show an optical sensor coupled to optical sensor controller 158in I/O subsystem 106. Optical sensor 164 may include charge-coupleddevice (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)phototransistors. Optical sensor 164 receives light from theenvironment, projected through one or more lens, and converts the lightto data representing an image. In conjunction with imaging module 143(also called a camera module), optical sensor 164 may capture stillimages or video. In some embodiments, an optical sensor is located onthe back of device 100, opposite touch screen display 112 on the frontof the device, so that the touch screen display may be used as aviewfinder for still and/or video image acquisition. In someembodiments, an optical sensor is located on the front of the device sothat the user's image may be obtained for videoconferencing while theuser views the other video conference participants on the touch screendisplay. In some embodiments, the position of optical sensor 164 can bechanged by the user (e.g., by rotating the lens and the sensor in thedevice housing) so that a single optical sensor 164 may be used alongwith the touch screen display for both video conferencing and stilland/or video image acquisition.

Device 100 may also include one or more proximity sensors 166. FIGS. 1Aand 1B show proximity sensor 166 coupled to peripherals interface 118.Alternately, proximity sensor 166 may be coupled to input controller 160in I/O subsystem 106. Proximity sensor 166 may perform as described inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/241,839, “Proximity Detector InHandheld Device”; Ser. No. 11/240,788, “Proximity Detector In HandheldDevice”; Ser. No. 11/620,702, “Using Ambient Light Sensor To AugmentProximity Sensor Output”; Ser. No. 11/586,862, “Automated Response ToAnd Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices”; and Ser. No.11/638,251, “Methods And Systems For Automatic Configuration OfPeripherals,” which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety. In some embodiments, the proximity sensor turns off anddisables touch screen 112 when the multifunction device is placed nearthe user's ear (e.g., when the user is making a phone call).

Device 100 may also include one or more accelerometers 168. FIGS. 1A and1B show accelerometer 168 coupled to peripherals interface 118.Alternately, accelerometer 168 may be coupled to an input controller 160in I/O subsystem 106. Accelerometer 168 may perform as described in U.S.Patent Publication No. 20050190059, “Acceleration-based Theft DetectionSystem for Portable Electronic Devices,” and U.S. Patent Publication No.20060017692, “Methods And Apparatuses For Operating A Portable DeviceBased On An Accelerometer,” both of which are which are incorporated byreference herein in their entirety. In some embodiments, information isdisplayed on the touch screen display in a portrait view or a landscapeview based on an analysis of data received from the one or moreaccelerometers. Device 100 optionally includes, in addition toaccelerometer(s) 168, a magnetometer (not shown) and a GPS (or GLONASSor other global navigation system) receiver (not shown) for obtaininginformation concerning the location and orientation (e.g., portrait orlandscape) of device 100.

In some embodiments, the software components stored in memory 102include operating system 126, communication module (or set ofinstructions) 128, contact/motion module (or set of instructions) 130,graphics module (or set of instructions) 132, text input module (or setof instructions) 134, Global Positioning System (GPS) module (or set ofinstructions) 135, and applications (or sets of instructions) 136.Furthermore, in some embodiments memory 102 stores device/globalinternal state 157, as shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B and 3. Device/globalinternal state 157 includes one or more of: active application state,indicating which applications, if any, are currently active; displaystate, indicating what applications, views or other information occupyvarious regions of touch screen display 112; sensor state, includinginformation obtained from the device's various sensors and input controldevices 116; and location information concerning the device's locationand/or attitude.

Operating system 126 (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X, WINDOWS, oran embedded operating system such as VxWorks) includes various softwarecomponents and/or drivers for controlling and managing general systemtasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control, powermanagement, etc.) and facilitates communication between various hardwareand software components.

Communication module 128 facilitates communication with other devicesover one or more external ports 124 and also includes various softwarecomponents for handling data received by RF circuitry 108 and/orexternal port 124. External port 124 (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB),FIREWIRE, etc.) is adapted for coupling directly to other devices orindirectly over a network (e.g., the Internet, wireless LAN, etc.). Insome embodiments, the external port is a multi-pin (e.g., 30-pin)connector that is the same as, or similar to and/or compatible with the30-pin connector used on iPod (trademark of Apple Inc.) devices.

Contact/motion module 130 may detect contact with touch screen 112 (inconjunction with display controller 156) and other touch sensitivedevices (e.g., a touchpad or physical click wheel). Contact/motionmodule 130 includes various software components for performing variousoperations related to detection of contact, such as determining ifcontact has occurred (e.g., detecting a finger-down event), determiningif there is movement of the contact and tracking the movement across thetouch-sensitive surface (e.g., detecting one or more finger-draggingevents), and determining if the contact has ceased (e.g., detecting afinger-up event or a break in contact). Contact/motion module 130receives contact data from the touch-sensitive surface. Determiningmovement of the point of contact, which is represented by a series ofcontact data, may include determining speed (magnitude), velocity(magnitude and direction), and/or an acceleration (a change in magnitudeand/or direction) of the point of contact. These operations may beapplied to single contacts (e.g., one finger contacts) or to multiplesimultaneous contacts (e.g., “multitouch”/multiple finger contacts). Insome embodiments, contact/motion module 130 and display controller 156detects contact on a touchpad. In some embodiments, contact/motionmodule 130 and controller 160 detects contact on a click wheel.

Contact/motion module 130 may detect a gesture input by a user.Different gestures on the touch-sensitive surface have different contactpatterns. Thus, a gesture may be detected by detecting a particularcontact pattern. For example, detecting a finger tap gesture includesdetecting a finger-down event followed by detecting a finger-up (liftoff) event at the same position (or substantially the same position) asthe finger-down event (e.g., at the position of an icon). As anotherexample, detecting a finger swipe gesture on the touch-sensitive surfaceincludes detecting a finger-down event followed by detecting one or morefinger-dragging events, and subsequently followed by detecting afinger-up (lift off) event.

Graphics module 132 includes various known software components forrendering and displaying graphics on touch screen 112 or other display,including components for changing the intensity of graphics that aredisplayed. As used herein, the term “graphics” includes any object thatcan be displayed to a user, including without limitation text, webpages, icons (such as user-interface objects including soft keys),digital images, videos, animations and the like.

In some embodiments, graphics module 132 stores data representinggraphics to be used. Each graphic may be assigned a corresponding code.Graphics module 132 receives, from applications etc., one or more codesspecifying graphics to be displayed along with, if necessary, coordinatedata and other graphic property data, and then generates screen imagedata to output to display controller 156.

Text input module 134, which may be a component of graphics module 132,provides soft keyboards for entering text in various applications (e.g.,contacts 137, e-mail 140, IM 141, browser 147, and any other applicationthat needs text input).

GPS module 135 determines the location of the device and provides thisinformation for use in various applications (e.g., to telephone 138 foruse in location-based dialing, to camera 143 as picture/video metadata,and to applications that provide location-based services such as weatherwidgets, local yellow page widgets, and map/navigation widgets).

Applications 136 may include the following modules (or sets ofinstructions), or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   contacts module 137 (sometimes called an address book or contact        list);    -   telephone module 138;    -   video conferencing module 139;    -   e-mail client module 140;    -   instant messaging (IM) module 141;    -   workout support module 142;    -   camera module 143 for still and/or video images;    -   image management module 144;    -   video player module 145;    -   music player module 146;    -   browser module 147;    -   calendar module 148;    -   widget modules 149, which may include one or more of: weather        widget 149-1, stocks widget 149-2, calculator widget 149-3,        alarm clock widget 149-4, dictionary widget 149-5, and other        widgets obtained by the user, as well as user-created widgets        149-6;    -   widget creator module 150 for making user-created widgets 149-6;    -   search module 151;    -   video and music player module 152, which merges video player        module 145 and music player module 146;    -   notes module 153;    -   map module 154; and/or    -   online video module 155.

Examples of other applications 136 that may be stored in memory 102include other word processing applications, other image editingapplications, drawing applications, presentation applications,JAVA-enabled applications, encryption, digital rights management, voicerecognition, and voice replication.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contactmodule 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, contactsmodule 137 may be used to manage an address book or contact list (e.g.,stored in application internal state 192 of contacts module 137 inmemory 102 or memory 370), including: adding name(s) to the addressbook; deleting name(s) from the address book; associating telephonenumber(s), e-mail address(es), physical address(es) or other informationwith a name; associating an image with a name; categorizing and sortingnames; providing telephone numbers or e-mail addresses to initiateand/or facilitate communications by telephone 138, video conference 139,e-mail 140, or IM 141; and so forth.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, audio circuitry 110, speaker 111,microphone 113, touch screen 112, display controller 156, contact module130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, telephone module138 may be used to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to atelephone number, access one or more telephone numbers in address book137, modify a telephone number that has been entered, dial a respectivetelephone number, conduct a conversation and disconnect or hang up whenthe conversation is completed. As noted above, the wirelesscommunication may use any of a plurality of communications standards,protocols and technologies.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, audio circuitry 110, speaker 111,microphone 113, touch screen 112, display controller 156, optical sensor164, optical sensor controller 158, contact module 130, graphics module132, text input module 134, contact list 137, and telephone module 138,videoconferencing module 139 includes executable instructions toinitiate, conduct, and terminate a video conference between a user andone or more other participants in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, displaycontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text inputmodule 134, e-mail client module 140 includes executable instructions tocreate, send, receive, and manage e-mail in response to userinstructions. In conjunction with image management module 144, e-mailclient module 140 makes it very easy to create and send e-mails withstill or video images taken with camera module 143.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, displaycontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text inputmodule 134, the instant messaging module 141 includes executableinstructions to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to aninstant message, to modify previously entered characters, to transmit arespective instant message (for example, using a Short Message Service(SMS) or Multimedia Message Service (MMS) protocol for telephony-basedinstant messages or using XMPP, SIMPLE, or IMPS for Internet-basedinstant messages), to receive instant messages and to view receivedinstant messages. In some embodiments, transmitted and/or receivedinstant messages may include graphics, photos, audio files, video filesand/or other attachments as are supported in a MMS and/or an EnhancedMessaging Service (EMS). As used herein, “instant messaging” refers toboth telephony-based messages (e.g., messages sent using SMS or MMS) andInternet-based messages (e.g., messages sent using XMPP, SIMPLE, orIMPS).

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, displaycontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, GPS module 135, map module 154, and music player module 146,workout support module 142 includes executable instructions to createworkouts (e.g., with time, distance, and/or calorie burning goals);communicate with workout sensors (sports devices); receive workoutsensor data; calibrate sensors used to monitor a workout; select andplay music for a workout; and display, store and transmit workout data.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, opticalsensor(s) 164, optical sensor controller 158, contact module 130,graphics module 132, and image management module 144, camera module 143includes executable instructions to capture still images or video(including a video stream) and store them into memory 102, modifycharacteristics of a still image or video, or delete a still image orvideo from memory 102.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contactmodule 130, graphics module 132, text input module 134, and cameramodule 143, image management module 144 includes executable instructionsto arrange, modify (e.g., edit), or otherwise manipulate, label, delete,present (e.g., in a digital slide show or album), and store still and/orvideo images.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contactmodule 130, graphics module 132, audio circuitry 110, and speaker 111,video player module 145 includes executable instructions to display,present or otherwise play back videos (e.g., on touch screen 112 or onan external, connected display via external port 124).

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display system controller 156,contact module 130, graphics module 132, audio circuitry 110, speaker111, RF circuitry 108, and browser module 147, music player module 146includes executable instructions that allow the user to download andplay back recorded music and other sound files stored in one or morefile formats, such as MP3 or AAC files. In some embodiments, device 100may include the functionality of an MP3 player, such as an iPod(trademark of Apple Inc.).

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text inputmodule 134, browser module 147 includes executable instructions tobrowse the Internet in accordance with user instructions, includingsearching, linking to, receiving, and displaying web pages or portionsthereof, as well as attachments and other files linked to web pages.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, e-mail client module 140, and browser module 147, calendarmodule 148 includes executable instructions to create, display, modify,and store calendars and data associated with calendars (e.g., calendarentries, to do lists, etc.) in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, and browser module 147, widget modules 149 aremini-applications that may be downloaded and used by a user (e.g.,weather widget 149-1, stocks widget 149-2, calculator widget 149-3,alarm clock widget 149-4, and dictionary widget 149-5) or created by theuser (e.g., user-created widget 149-6). In some embodiments, a widgetincludes an HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) file, a CSS (CascadingStyle Sheets) file, and a JavaScript file. In some embodiments, a widgetincludes an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file and a JavaScript file(e.g., Yahoo! Widgets).

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, and browser module 147, the widget creator module 150 may beused by a user to create widgets (e.g., turning a user-specified portionof a web page into a widget).

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display system controller 156,contact module 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134,search module 151 includes executable instructions to search for text,music, sound, image, video, and/or other files in memory 102 that matchone or more search criteria (e.g., one or more user-specified searchterms) in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display controller 156, contactmodule 130, graphics module 132, and text input module 134, notes module153 includes executable instructions to create and manage notes, to dolists, and the like in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with RF circuitry 108, touch screen 112, display systemcontroller 156, contact module 130, graphics module 132, text inputmodule 134, GPS module 135, and browser module 147, map module 154 maybe used to receive, display, modify, and store maps and data associatedwith maps (e.g., driving directions; data on stores and other points ofinterest at or near a particular location; and other location-baseddata) in accordance with user instructions.

In conjunction with touch screen 112, display system controller 156,contact module 130, graphics module 132, audio circuitry 110, speaker111, RF circuitry 108, text input module 134, e-mail client module 140,and browser module 147, online video module 155 includes instructionsthat allow the user to access, browse, receive (e.g., by streamingand/or download), play back (e.g., on the touch screen or on anexternal, connected display via external port 124), send an e-mail witha link to a particular online video, and otherwise manage online videosin one or more file formats, such as H.264. In some embodiments, instantmessaging module 141, rather than e-mail client module 140, is used tosend a link to a particular online video. Additional description of theonline video application can be found in U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/936,562, “Portable Multifunction Device, Method, andGraphical User Interface for Playing Online Videos,” filed Jun. 20,2007, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/968,067, “PortableMultifunction Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for PlayingOnline Videos,” filed Dec. 31, 2007, the content of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

Each of the above identified modules and applications correspond to aset of executable instructions for performing one or more functionsdescribed above and the methods described in this application (e.g., thecomputer-implemented methods and other information processing methodsdescribed herein). These modules (i.e., sets of instructions) need notbe implemented as separate software programs, procedures or modules, andthus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwisere-arranged in various embodiments. For example, video player module 145may be combined with music player module 146 into a single module (e.g.,video and music player module 152, FIG. 1B). In some embodiments, memory102 may store a subset of the modules and data structures identifiedabove. Furthermore, memory 102 may store additional modules and datastructures not described above.

In some embodiments, device 100 is a device where operation of apredefined set of functions on the device is performed exclusivelythrough a touch screen and/or a touchpad. By using a touch screen and/ora touchpad as the primary input control device for operation of device100, the number of physical input control devices (such as push buttons,dials, and the like) on device 100 may be reduced.

The predefined set of functions that may be performed exclusivelythrough a touch screen and/or a touchpad include navigation between userinterfaces. In some embodiments, the touchpad, when touched by the user,navigates device 100 to a main, home, or root menu from any userinterface that may be displayed on device 100. In such embodiments, thetouchpad may be referred to as a “menu button.” In some otherembodiments, the menu button may be a physical push button or otherphysical input control device instead of a touchpad.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for eventhandling in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments,memory 102 (in FIGS. 1A and 1B) or 370 (FIG. 3) includes event sorter170 (e.g., in operating system 126) and a respective application 136-1(e.g., any of the aforementioned applications 137-151, 155, 380-390).

Event sorter 170 receives event information and determines theapplication 136-1 and application view 191 of application 136-1 to whichto deliver the event information. Event sorter 170 includes eventmonitor 171 and event dispatcher module 174. In some embodiments,application 136-1 includes application internal state 192, whichindicates the current application view(s) displayed on touch sensitivedisplay 112 when the application is active or executing. In someembodiments, device/global internal state 157 is used by event sorter170 to determine which application(s) is (are) currently active, andapplication internal state 192 is used by event sorter 170 to determineapplication views 191 to which to deliver event information.

In some embodiments, application internal state 192 includes additionalinformation, such as one or more of: resume information to be used whenapplication 136-1 resumes execution, user interface state informationthat indicates information being displayed or that is ready for displayby application 136-1, a state queue for enabling the user to go back toa prior state or view of application 136-1, and a redo/undo queue ofprevious actions taken by the user.

Event monitor 171 receives event information from peripherals interface118. Event information includes information about a sub-event (e.g., auser touch on touch-sensitive display 112, as part of a multi-touchgesture). Peripherals interface 118 transmits information it receivesfrom I/O subsystem 106 or a sensor, such as proximity sensor 166,accelerometer(s) 168, and/or microphone 113 (through audio circuitry110). Information that peripherals interface 118 receives from I/Osubsystem 106 includes information from touch-sensitive display 112 or atouch-sensitive surface.

In some embodiments, event monitor 171 sends requests to the peripheralsinterface 118 at predetermined intervals. In response, peripheralsinterface 118 transmits event information. In other embodiments,peripheral interface 118 transmits event information only when there isa significant event (e.g., receiving an input above a predeterminednoise threshold and/or for more than a predetermined duration).

In some embodiments, event sorter 170 also includes a hit viewdetermination module 172 and/or an active event recognizer determinationmodule 173.

Hit view determination module 172 provides software procedures fordetermining where a sub-event has taken place within one or more views,when touch sensitive display 112 displays more than one view. Views aremade up of controls and other elements that a user can see on thedisplay.

Another aspect of the user interface associated with an application is aset of views, sometimes herein called application views or userinterface windows, in which information is displayed and touch-basedgestures occur. The application views (of a respective application) inwhich a touch is detected may correspond to programmatic levels within aprogrammatic or view hierarchy of the application. For example, thelowest level view in which a touch is detected may be called the hitview, and the set of events that are recognized as proper inputs may bedetermined based, at least in part, on the hit view of the initial touchthat begins a touch-based gesture.

Hit view determination module 172 receives information related tosub-events of a touch-based gesture. When an application has multipleviews organized in a hierarchy, hit view determination module 172identifies a hit view as the lowest view in the hierarchy which shouldhandle the sub-event. In most circumstances, the hit view is the lowestlevel view in which an initiating sub-event occurs (i.e., the firstsub-event in the sequence of sub-events that form an event or potentialevent). Once the hit view is identified by the hit view determinationmodule, the hit view typically receives all sub-events related to thesame touch or input source for which it was identified as the hit view.

Active event recognizer determination module 173 determines which viewor views within a view hierarchy should receive a particular sequence ofsub-events. In some embodiments, active event recognizer determinationmodule 173 determines that only the hit view should receive a particularsequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, active event recognizerdetermination module 173 determines that all views that include thephysical location of a sub-event are actively involved views, andtherefore determines that all actively involved views should receive aparticular sequence of sub-events. In other embodiments, even if touchsub-events were entirely confined to the area associated with oneparticular view, views higher in the hierarchy would still remain asactively involved views.

Event dispatcher module 174 dispatches the event information to an eventrecognizer (e.g., event recognizer 180). In embodiments including activeevent recognizer determination module 173, event dispatcher module 174delivers the event information to an event recognizer determined byactive event recognizer determination module 173. In some embodiments,event dispatcher module 174 stores in an event queue the eventinformation, which is retrieved by a respective event receiver module182.

In some embodiments, operating system 126 includes event sorter 170.Alternatively, application 136-1 includes event sorter 170. In yet otherembodiments, event sorter 170 is a stand-alone module, or a part ofanother module stored in memory 102, such as contact/motion module 130.

In some embodiments, application 136-1 includes a plurality of eventhandlers 190 and one or more application views 191, each of whichincludes instructions for handling touch events that occur within arespective view of the application's user interface. Each applicationview 191 of the application 136-1 includes one or more event recognizers180. Typically, a respective application view 191 includes a pluralityof event recognizers 180. In other embodiments, one or more of eventrecognizers 180 are part of a separate module, such as a user interfacekit (not shown) or a higher level object from which application 136-1inherits methods and other properties. In some embodiments, a respectiveevent handler 190 includes one or more of: data updater 176, objectupdater 177, GUI updater 178, and/or event data 179 received from eventsorter 170. Event handler 190 may utilize or call data updater 176,object updater 177 or GUI updater 178 to update the application internalstate 192. Alternatively, one or more of the application views 191includes one or more respective event handlers 190. Also, in someembodiments, one or more of data updater 176, object updater 177, andGUI updater 178 are included in a respective application view 191.

A respective event recognizer 180 receives event information (e.g.,event data 179) from event sorter 170, and identifies an event from theevent information. Event recognizer 180 includes event receiver 182 andevent comparator 184. In some embodiments, event recognizer 180 alsoincludes at least a subset of: metadata 183, and event deliveryinstructions 188 (which may include sub-event delivery instructions).

Event receiver 182 receives event information from event sorter 170. Theevent information includes information about a sub-event, for example, atouch or a touch movement. Depending on the sub-event, the eventinformation also includes additional information, such as location ofthe sub-event. When the sub-event concerns motion of a touch the eventinformation may also include speed and direction of the sub-event. Insome embodiments, events include rotation of the device from oneorientation to another (e.g., from a portrait orientation to a landscapeorientation, or vice versa), and the event information includescorresponding information about the current orientation (also calleddevice attitude) of the device.

Event comparator 184 compares the event information to predefined eventor sub-event definitions and, based on the comparison, determines anevent or sub-event, or determines or updates the state of an event orsub-event. In some embodiments, event comparator 184 includes eventdefinitions 186. Event definitions 186 contain definitions of events(e.g., predefined sequences of sub-events), for example, event 1(187-1), event 2 (187-2), and others. In some embodiments, sub-events inan event 187 include, for example, touch begin, touch end, touchmovement, touch cancellation, and multiple touching. In one example, thedefinition for event 1 (187-1) is a double tap on a displayed object.The double tap, for example, comprises a first touch (touch begin) onthe displayed object for a predetermined phase, a first lift-off (touchend) for a predetermined phase, a second touch (touch begin) on thedisplayed object for a predetermined phase, and a second lift-off (touchend) for a predetermined phase. In another example, the definition forevent 2 (187-2) is a dragging on a displayed object. The dragging, forexample, comprises a touch (or contact) on the displayed object for apredetermined phase, a movement of the touch across touch-sensitivedisplay 112, and lift-off of the touch (touch end). In some embodiments,the event also includes information for one or more associated eventhandlers 190.

In some embodiments, event definition 187 includes a definition of anevent for a respective user-interface object. In some embodiments, eventcomparator 184 performs a hit test to determine which user-interfaceobject is associated with a sub-event. For example, in an applicationview in which three user-interface objects are displayed ontouch-sensitive display 112, when a touch is detected on touch-sensitivedisplay 112, event comparator 184 performs a hit test to determine whichof the three user-interface objects is associated with the touch(sub-event). If each displayed object is associated with a respectiveevent handler 190, the event comparator uses the result of the hit testto determine which event handler 190 should be activated. For example,event comparator 184 selects an event handler associated with thesub-event and the object triggering the hit test.

In some embodiments, the definition for a respective event 187 alsoincludes delayed actions that delay delivery of the event informationuntil after it has been determined whether the sequence of sub-eventsdoes or does not correspond to the event recognizer's event type.

When a respective event recognizer 180 determines that the series ofsub-events do not match any of the events in event definitions 186, therespective event recognizer 180 enters an event impossible, eventfailed, or event ended state, after which it disregards subsequentsub-events of the touch-based gesture. In this situation, other eventrecognizers, if any, that remain active for the hit view continue totrack and process sub-events of an ongoing touch-based gesture.

In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer 180 includes metadata183 with configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate howthe event delivery system should perform sub-event delivery to activelyinvolved event recognizers. In some embodiments, metadata 183 includesconfigurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicate how eventrecognizers may interact with one another. In some embodiments, metadata183 includes configurable properties, flags, and/or lists that indicatewhether sub-events are delivered to varying levels in the view orprogrammatic hierarchy.

In some embodiments, a respective event recognizer 180 activates eventhandler 190 associated with an event when one or more particularsub-events of an event are recognized. In some embodiments, a respectiveevent recognizer 180 delivers event information associated with theevent to event handler 190. Activating an event handler 190 is distinctfrom sending (and deferred sending) sub-events to a respective hit view.In some embodiments, event recognizer 180 throws a flag associated withthe recognized event, and event handler 190 associated with the flagcatches the flag and performs a predefined process.

In some embodiments, event delivery instructions 188 include sub-eventdelivery instructions that deliver event information about a sub-eventwithout activating an event handler. Instead, the sub-event deliveryinstructions deliver event information to event handlers associated withthe series of sub-events or to actively involved views. Event handlersassociated with the series of sub-events or with actively involved viewsreceive the event information and perform a predetermined process.

In some embodiments, data updater 176 creates and updates data used inapplication 136-1. For example, data updater 176 updates the telephonenumber used in contacts module 137, or stores a video file used in videoplayer module 145. In some embodiments, object updater 177 creates andupdates objects used in application 136-1. For example, object updater176 creates a new user-interface object or updates the position of auser-interface object. GUI updater 178 updates the GUI. For example, GUIupdater 178 prepares display information and sends it to graphics module132 for display on a touch-sensitive display.

In some embodiments, event handler(s) 190 includes or has access to dataupdater 176, object updater 177, and GUI updater 178. In someembodiments, data updater 176, object updater 177, and GUI updater 178are included in a single module of a respective application 136-1 orapplication view 191. In other embodiments, they are included in two ormore software modules.

It shall be understood that the foregoing discussion regarding eventhandling of user touches on touch-sensitive displays also applies toother forms of user inputs to operate multifunction devices 100 withinput-devices, not all of which are initiated on touch screens, e.g.,coordinating mouse movement and mouse button presses with or withoutsingle or multiple keyboard presses or holds, user movements taps,drags, scrolls, etc., on touch-pads, pen stylus inputs, movement of thedevice, oral instructions, detected eye movements, biometric inputs,and/or any combination thereof, which may be utilized as inputscorresponding to sub-events which define an event to be recognized.

FIG. 2 illustrates a portable multifunction device 100 having a touchscreen 112 in accordance with some embodiments. The touch screen maydisplay one or more graphics within user interface (UI) 200. In thisembodiment, as well as others described below, a user may select one ormore of the graphics by making contact or touching the graphics, forexample, with one or more fingers 202 (not drawn to scale in the figure)or one or more styluses 203 (not drawn to scale in the figure). In someembodiments, selection of one or more graphics occurs when the userbreaks contact with the one or more graphics. In some embodiments, thecontact may include a gesture, such as one or more taps, one or moreswipes (from left to right, right to left, upward and/or downward)and/or a rolling of a finger (from right to left, left to right, upwardand/or downward) that has made contact with device 100. In someembodiments, inadvertent contact with a graphic may not select thegraphic. For example, a swipe gesture that sweeps over an applicationicon may not select the corresponding application when the gesturecorresponding to selection is a tap.

Device 100 may also include one or more physical buttons, such as “home”or menu button 204. As described previously, menu button 204 may be usedto navigate to any application 136 in a set of applications that may beexecuted on device 100. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the menubutton is implemented as a soft key in a GUI displayed on touch screen112.

In one embodiment, device 100 includes touch screen 112, menu button204, push button 206 for powering the device on/off and locking thedevice, volume adjustment button(s) 208, Subscriber Identity Module(SIM) card slot 210, head set jack 212, and docking/charging externalport 124. Push button 206 may be used to turn the power on/off on thedevice by depressing the button and holding the button in the depressedstate for a predefined time interval; to lock the device by depressingthe button and releasing the button before the predefined time intervalhas elapsed; and/or to unlock the device or initiate an unlock process.In an alternative embodiment, device 100 also may accept verbal inputfor activation or deactivation of some functions through microphone 113.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary multifunction device with adisplay and a touch-sensitive surface in accordance with someembodiments. Device 300 need not be portable. In some embodiments,device 300 is a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer,a multimedia player device, a navigation device, an educational device(such as a child's learning toy), a gaming system, or a control device(e.g., a home or industrial controller). Device 300 typically includesone or more processing units (CPU's) 310, one or more network or othercommunications interfaces 360, memory 370, and one or more communicationbuses 320 for interconnecting these components. Communication buses 320may include circuitry (sometimes called a chipset) that interconnectsand controls communications between system components. Device 300includes input/output (I/O) interface 330 comprising display 340, whichis typically a touch screen display. I/O interface 330 also may includea keyboard and/or mouse (or other pointing device) 350 and touchpad 355.Memory 370 includes high-speed random access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM,DDR RAM or other random access solid state memory devices; and mayinclude non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storagedevices, optical disk storage devices, flash memory devices, or othernon-volatile solid state storage devices. Memory 370 may optionallyinclude one or more storage devices remotely located from CPU(s) 310. Insome embodiments, memory 370 stores programs, modules, and datastructures analogous to the programs, modules, and data structuresstored in memory 102 of portable multifunction device 100 (FIG. 1), or asubset thereof. Furthermore, memory 370 may store additional programs,modules, and data structures not present in memory 102 of portablemultifunction device 100. For example, memory 370 of device 300 maystore drawing module 380, presentation module 382, word processingmodule 384, website creation module 386, disk authoring module 388,and/or spreadsheet module 390, while memory 102 of portablemultifunction device 100 (FIG. 1) may not store these modules.

Each of the above identified elements in FIG. 3 may be stored in one ormore of the previously mentioned memory devices. Each of the aboveidentified modules corresponds to a set of instructions for performing afunction described above. The above identified modules or programs(i.e., sets of instructions) need not be implemented as separatesoftware programs, procedures or modules, and thus various subsets ofthese modules may be combined or otherwise re-arranged in variousembodiments. In some embodiments, memory 370 may store a subset of themodules and data structures identified above. Furthermore, memory 370may store additional modules and data structures not described above.

Attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces (“UI”)that may be implemented on portable multifunction device 100.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate exemplary user interfaces for a menu ofapplications on portable multifunction device 100 in accordance withsome embodiments. Similar user interfaces may be implemented on device300. In some embodiments, user interface 400A includes the followingelements, or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   Signal strength indicator(s) 402 for wireless communication(s),        such as cellular and Wi-Fi signals;    -   Time 404;    -   Bluetooth indicator 405;    -   Battery status indicator 406;    -   Tray 408 with icons for frequently used applications, such as:        -   Phone 138, which may include an indicator 414 of the number            of missed calls or voicemail messages;        -   E-mail client 140, which may include an indicator 410 of the            number of unread e-mails;        -   Browser 147; and        -   Music player 146; and    -   Icons for other applications, such as:        -   IM 141;        -   Image management 144;        -   Camera 143;        -   Video player 145;        -   Weather 149-1;        -   Stocks 149-2;        -   Workout support 142;        -   Calendar 148;        -   Calculator 149-3;        -   Alarm clock 149-4;        -   Dictionary 149-5; and        -   User-created widget 149-6.

In some embodiments, user interface 400B includes the followingelements, or a subset or superset thereof:

-   -   402, 404, 405, 406, 141, 148, 144, 143, 149-3, 149-2, 149-1,        149-4, 410, 414, 138, 140, and 147, as described above;    -   Map 154;    -   Notes 153;    -   Settings 412, which provides access to settings for device 100        and its various applications 136, as described further below;    -   Video and music player module 152, also referred to as iPod        (trademark of Apple Inc.) module 152; and    -   Online video module 155, also referred to as YouTube (trademark        of Google Inc.) module 155.

In the descriptions provided below, the term “contact” (except when usedto describe an entry in a contact list, address book or the like) isused as a short hand term for “touch gesture,” and thus each contactmentioned or described below may be any suitable touch gesture detectedby a sensor (or set of sensors) of a touch-sensitive display or othertouch-sensitive surface. Furthermore, in some embodiments, “touchgestures” include not only gestures, made by one or more fingers or oneor more styluses, that make physical contact a touch-sensitive screen112 or other touch-sensitive surface, but also gestures that occur, inwhole or in part, sufficiently close to touch-sensitive screen 112 orother touch-sensitive surface that the one or more sensors oftouch-sensitive screen 112 or other touch-sensitive surface are able todetect those gestures.

The term “conditionally enabled” button means a button, key or objectdisplayed on a soft keyboard or user interface that can be activatedwhen enabled and that cannot be activated when disabled. The term“conditionally enabled button” is logically equivalent to “conditionallydisabled button” because whether the button in enabled or disabled isconditional.

Activation of a soft button or other user interface object in responseto a user-initiated touch gesture, at a location associated with thesoft button or object, may occur upon a touch down event, a liftoffevent, or any other detectable event associated with the user-initiatedtouch gesture. The term “activation” means an event that activates abutton or a function associated with a button. For example, activationof a key on a soft keyboard is an event that adds a charactercorresponding to the key to a text buffer, or that performs a keyboardfunction such as: shifting a text entry mode from lowercase to uppercasecharacters, shifting one or more keys of the keyboard to representalternative symbols or functions, replacing the current soft keyboardwith a respective alternate keyboard, and so on.

Attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces (“UI”)and associated processes that may be implemented on a multifunctiondevice with a display and a touch-sensitive surface, such as device 300or portable multifunction device 100.

FIGS. 5A-5I illustrate exemplary interfaces for conditionally activatingbuttons or other displayed objects in accordance with some embodiments.The interfaces in these figures are used to illustrate the processesdescribed below, including the processes in FIGS. 6A-6B and FIG. 7.Activation of a button or object results in performance of an action orfunction corresponding to the button or object; in some cases, theaction or function performed depends both on the identity of the buttonor object that is activated and on the context in which the button orobject is activated. A non-exhaustive set of examples of actionsperformed in response to activation of a respective button or objectincludes: adding a symbol (corresponding to the activated button orobject) to a document or input text field, changing the displayedkeyboard from a currently displayed keyboard to a keyboard correspondingto the activated button or object, launching or resuming execution orresuming display of an application or function corresponding to theactivated button or object. As described below, in some cases activationof a button or object results in performance of both a primary function(e.g., inserting a letter or symbol in an input text field) and asecondary function (e.g., temporarily enabling or disabling activationof one or more buttons or objects displayed in the user interface, ortemporarily enabling or disabling the performance of a function that isrelated to the primary function).

In FIGS. 5A-5I, some finger contact movement sizes may be exaggeratedfor illustrative purposes. No depiction in the figures bearing on fingercontact movements should be taken as a requirement or limitation for thepurpose of understanding sizes and scale associated with the methods anddevices disclosed herein.

UI 500A (FIG. 5A) depicts an exemplary text input user interface (e.g.,for notes module 153, email client module 140, etc.) on touch screen 112of device 100. In this example, UI 500A includes a text entry region 502and a QWERTY soft keyboard 504. Text entry region 502 may include inputtext 506 with text 506-1 and a cursor 508 at position 508-A. In someembodiments, soft keyboard 504 is associated with one or more languages.Soft keyboard 504 includes one or more soft buttons (or “soft keys”)510. Some of buttons 510 are associated with a respective letter. Forexample, button 510-A is associated with the letter “Q,” button 510-Bwith the letter “W,” button 510-C with the letter “E,” and button 510-Ewith a new line or line break character. Some others of the buttons 510are associated with particular text input functions or operations. Forexample, button 510-D is associated with the delete/backspace operation,and button 510-F with the shift function (for modifying the characterinput of other buttons 510, for example).

Keyboard 504 also includes soft buttons (or “soft keys”) 512 related tooperation of the keyboard. For example, buttons 512 include a button512-A for switching from QWERTY keyboard 504 to a keyboard of numbersand symbols, button 512-B for switching from keyboard 504 to a keyboardassociated with a different language or switching to a differentlanguage for keyboard 504, and button 512-C for hiding keyboard 504.Thus, buttons 512 in this example are mode changing buttons, whichchange the mode of operation of the device, by changing the softkeyboard displayed or by removing the keyboard from display.

UI 500H (FIG. 5H) depicts another exemplary text input user interface(e.g., for notes module 153, email client module 140, etc.) on touchscreen 112 of device 100. UI 500H includes text entry region 502 and anumbers and symbols soft keyboard 520. Text entry region 502 may includeinput text 506 with text 506-1 and a cursor 508 at position 508-A. Insome embodiments, keyboard 520 is associated with one or more languages.Soft keyboard 520 includes one or more soft buttons (or “soft keys”)522. Some of buttons 522 are associated with respective numbers orsymbols. For example, button 522-A is associated with the numeral “1,”button 522-B with the numeral “2,” and button 522-C with the questionmark symbol (“?”). Some of the other buttons 522 are associated withparticular text input functions or operations. For example, buttons522-D, 522-E, and 522-F have the same functionality as buttons 510-D,510-E, and 510-F, respectively. Keyboard 522 also includes a button512-D for switching to an alphabet/letters keyboard, as well as buttons512-B and 512-C.

In some embodiments, buttons 510 or 522 are unconditionally enabledbuttons and buttons 512 are conditionally enabled buttons. Conditionallyenabled buttons 512 have particular conditions on their activation,while unconditionally enabled buttons 510 or 522 are not subject tothose conditions. Or, in some embodiments, buttons 512 are disabledunder particular conditions, while buttons 510 or 522 are not disabledunder those particular conditions. An example of a conditionally enabledbutton is a keyboard selection button for activating a second keyboard(e.g., a keyboard having numeric keys and other symbols, at least someof which are not displayed by a first keyboard that includes thekeyboard selection button). In this example the keyboard selectionbutton is conditionally enabled because it is temporarily disabled inresponse to activation of certain other soft keyboard buttons (e.g., anyof the letter buttons in the displayed soft keyboard), and is otherwiseenabled for activation.

In some embodiments, a condition to activation of a respectiveconditionally enabled button 512 is whether a contact on a locationcorresponding to the respective button 512 is detected within apredefined period (i.e., a time window of a predefined amount of time)commencing from detection of a contact on a location corresponding toanother button on keyboard 504 or 520; activation of button 512 isdisabled during the time window. In some embodiments, the time windowstarts from a detection of contact on any button on the keyboard 504 or520, including buttons 510, 522, 512. In some other embodiments, thetime window starts from a detection of contact on a button 510 or 520,but not on a button 512. As discussed below, the time window has apredefined duration, i.e., lasts for a predefined amount of time, whichis fixed (i.e., invariant) in some embodiments, and in other embodimentsis variable or context dependent.

UI 500B (FIG. 5B) illustrates contact 514 on touch screen 112. In thisexample, contact 514 is at a location 514-A on touch screen 112corresponding to the location of button 510-C, which also corresponds tothe activation region of button 510-C. In response to detection ofcontact 514 at location 514-A, a character “e” 516 is inserted intoinput text 506, changing text 506-1 to text 506-2, and advancing cursor508 to position 508-B.

The detection of contact 514 at location 514-A corresponding to thelocation of button 510-C also starts a time window of a predefinedamount of time, during which contacts detected at locations on touchscreen 112 corresponding to the locations of one or more conditionallyenabled buttons (e.g., buttons 512) of keyboard 504 are disregarded;those buttons are disabled during the time window. In some embodiments,the predefined duration of the time window is fixed (i.e., invariant),having a duration, for example, between 200 and 500 milliseconds; inanother example the predefined duration of the time window is fixed at avalue between 150 and 700 milliseconds; in yet another example thepredefined duration of the time window is fixed at a value between 300and 750 milliseconds. In other embodiments, the length of the timewindow depends on heuristics, user history or other relevant contextualinformation. In one example, the device measures the user's averagedelay between keystrokes, or between intra-word keystrokes, comparesthat value with a predefined average keystroke delay value, and adjuststhe time window's length in accordance with the difference between (orthe ratio of) the user's average keystroke delay and the predefinedaverage. In another example, the time window length is different for oneset of applications (e.g., notes and email applications) than foranother application (or set of applications) (e.g., a browserapplication). The time window is sometimes called a mode changesuppression time window, because keyboard mode changes are suppressedduring the time window in accordance with some embodiments.

UI 500C (FIG. 5C) illustrates contact 518 on touch screen 112 directlyfollowing contact 514. UI 500C shows three (of many) possible locationson keyboard 504 at which contact 518 can be made and detected. In thisexample, the contact 518 can be detected at location 518-A, 518-B, or518-C on touch screen 112. The following figures illustrate the effectof the contact 518 being detected at a respective location 518-A, 518-B,or 518-C following contact 514.

UI 500D (FIG. 5D) illustrates contact 518 on touch screen 112 directlyfollowing contact 514. In this example, contact 518 is at a location518-A on touch screen 112 corresponding to the location of button 510-B,which also corresponds to the activation region of button 510-B. Inresponse to detection of contact 518 at location 518-A, a character “w”520 is inserted into input text 506, changing text 506-2 to text 506-3,and cursor 508 is moved to position 508-C. Button 510-B is anunconditionally enabled button that is not affected by the time windowfrom contact 514; the character insertion and cursor movement occurswhether contact 518 detected at location 518-A occurs inside or outsideof the time window from contact 514.

Further, detection of contact 518 at location 518-A begins a new timewindow having the predefined amount of time. In effect, the time windowis shifted or otherwise varied so that it starts from the detection ofcontact 518 or is adjusted accordingly.

UI 500E (FIG. 5E) illustrates a contact 518 on touch screen 112 directlyfollowing contact 514. In this example, contact 518 is at a location518-B on touch screen 112 corresponding to the location of button 510-D,which also corresponds to an activation region of button 510-D. Inresponse to detection of contact 518 at location 518-B, the character“e” 516 in text 506-2 is deleted, reverting text 506-2 back to text506-1, and cursor 508 is moved to position 508-A. Button 510-D is anunconditionally enabled button that is not affected by the time windowtriggered by contact 514; the character deletion and cursor movementoccurs whether contact 518 detected at location 518-B occurs inside oroutside of the time window from contact 514. Further, detection ofcontact 518 at location 518-B begins a new time window. As explainedabove, the time window has a predefined duration, which is fixed (i.e.,invariant) in some embodiments and is variable or context-dependent inother embodiments.

UI 500F (FIG. 5F) illustrates a contact 518 on touch screen 112 directlyfollowing contact 514. In this example, contact 518 is at location 518-Con touch screen 112 corresponding to the location of button 512-C, whichalso corresponds to the activation region of button 512-C. Button 512-Cis a conditionally enabled button that is affected by the time windowfrom contact 514. Depending on when contact 518 was made (and thus whencontact 518 was detected), either keyboard 504 is hidden or nothinghappens in response to detection of contact 518 at location 518-C. Ifcontact 518 is detected at location 518-C at a time within the timewindow, keyboard 504 is not hidden, and UI 500F continues to bedisplayed; contact 518 is disregarded. If contact 518 is detected atlocation 518-C at a time after the time window, keyboard 504 is hidden,as illustrated in UI 500G (FIG. 5G).

Timeline 550 (not drawn to scale) (FIG. 5I) depicts times at which thecontacts described above may be detected and illustrate the time windowsstarted by the detected contacts. Timeline 550 depicts time 552 at whicha contact is detected, and times 554, 556, and 558 at which subsequentcontacts may be detected (assuming, for example, that no contacts aredetected before time 552 within the time window length of time 552). Acontact detected at time 552, at a location corresponding to button 510(e.g., contact 514 at location 514-A) or 522 (or in some embodiments,any button on soft keyboard 504 or 522, including a button 512), startstime window 560-A of a duration commencing from time 552. The buttoncorresponding to the location of the contact detected at time 552 isactivated. If a contact is detected at time 554 and that contact is at alocation corresponding to a button 510 or 522 (e.g., contact 514 atlocation 514-A, corresponding to button 510-C), then the correspondingbutton is activated (e.g., button 510-C is activated); activation ofbuttons 510 or 520 are not affected by the time windows. If a contact isdetected at time 554 and that contact is at a location corresponding toa conditionally enabled button (e.g., contact 518 at location 518-C,corresponding to button 512-C), then the activation of the correspondingbutton is prevented (e.g., activation of button 512-C is prevented); theconditionally enabled button is disabled during time window 560-A. Onthe other hand, if a contact at a location corresponding to aconditionally enabled button is detected at time 558, which is outsideof time window 560-A, without any intervening contacts detected betweentimes 552 and 558, then the corresponding conditionally enabled buttonis activated.

A contact on button 510 or 522 detected at time 554, directly followingthe contact detected at time 552 described above, starts a time window560-B, which can have the same length as time window 560-A. If thecontact directly following the contact detected at time 554 is a contactat a location corresponding to a conditionally enabled button, and thecontact is detected at time 556, then activation of the conditionallyenabled button is prevented. The activation is prevented because eventhough time 556 is outside of time window 560-A, time 556 is within timewindow 560-B. If the contact is detected instead at time 558, then thecorresponding conditionally enabled button is activated because time 558is outside of time windows 560-A and 560-B.

FIGS. 6A-6B are flow diagrams illustrating a method 600 of activatingbuttons in accordance with some embodiments. Method 600 is performed ata multifunction device (e.g., device 300, FIG. 3, or portablemultifunction device 100, FIG. 1) with a display and a touch-sensitivesurface. In some embodiments, the display is a touch-sensitive displayand the touch-sensitive surface is on the display.

As described below, method 600 provides an intuitive way to activatebuttons that reduces the cognitive burden on a user, thereby creating amore efficient human-machine interface. For battery-operated computingdevices, enabling a user to activate buttons faster and moreefficiently, while preventing inadvertent activations of mode-changingbuttons or other conditionally enabled buttons, conserves power andincreases the time between battery charges.

The device displays (602) a soft keyboard having a plurality of buttonsincluding a plurality of unconditionally enabled buttons and one or moreconditionally enabled buttons. For example, in FIG. 5A, keyboard 504 isdisplayed on touch screen 112. Keyboard 504 includes unconditionallyenabled buttons 510 and buttons 512, one or more of which (e.g., button512-C) are conditionally enabled buttons. As another example, in FIG.5H, keyboard 520 is displayed on touch screen 112. Keyboard 520 includesunconditionally enabled buttons 522 and buttons 512, one or more ofwhich are conditionally enabled buttons.

In some embodiments, the one or more conditionally enabled buttonsinclude one or more of: a button for hiding the keyboard (e.g., button512-C) (620); a button for changing a language associated with the softkeyboard (e.g., button 512-B) (622); where the soft keyboard isassociated with a first language, a button for switching to a softkeyboard associated with a second language (e.g., button 512-B) (624); abutton for switching from an alphabet keyboard to a numbers-and-symbolskeyboard (e.g., button 512-A) (626); and a button for switching from anumbers-and-symbols keyboard to an alphabet keyboard (e.g., button512-D) (628).

The device detects (604) a first input with a first button at a firsttime. For example, in FIG. 5B, contact 514 (the first input) is detectedat time 552 (FIG. 5I) at location 514-A, which corresponds to button510-C.

The device responds (606) to detecting the first input by activating thefirst button. For example, in FIG. 5B, the device responds to thedetection of contact 514 at location 514-A by activating button 510-C.The effects of the activation include insertion of the character “e” 516into input text 506 and movement of the cursor 508 to position 508-B.

After detecting and acting upon the activation of the first button, thedevice detects (608) a second input with a second button at a secondtime. For example, in FIG. 5C, the device detects contact 518 at asecond time (time 554 or 556, FIG. 5I) after time 552. Different effectscan occur depending on the location where contact 518 at the second timeis detected (e.g., depending on which button is selected by contact 518)and whether the second time falls within the time window started by aprior button activation.

In response to detecting the second input with the second button at thesecond time (610), when the first button is an unconditionally enabledbutton and the second button is an unconditionally enabled button, thedevice activates (612) the second button. For example, in FIG. 5D,contact 518 is detected at location 518-A, which corresponds tounconditionally enabled button 510-B. Button 510-B is activated, and theeffects of the activation include the insertion of a character “w” 520into input text 506 and movement of cursor 508 to position 508-C. Asanother example, in FIG. 5E, contact 518 is instead detected at location518-B, which corresponds to unconditionally enabled button 510-D. Button510-D is activated, and the effects of the activation include thedeletion of the character “e” 516 from input text 506 and movement ofthe cursor 508 to position 508-A.

In response to detecting the second input with the second button at thesecond time (610), when the first button is an unconditionally enabledbutton and the second button is a conditionally enabled button (614),whether the second button is activated depends on the period of timebetween the first time, when contact 514 is detected, and the secondtime, when contact 518 is detected. When the period of time between thefirst time and the second time is above a predefined threshold (which isa fixed value in some embodiments, and is a variable orcontext-dependent value in other embodiments), the device activates(616) the second button. When the period of time between the first timeand the second time is equal to or below the predefined threshold (i.e.,the second contact occurs within a mode change suppression time window),the device prevents (618) the second button from being activated.

For example, in FIG. 5F, contact 518 is detected at location 518-C,which corresponds to conditionally enabled button 512-C. If contact 518is detected at time 556, then button 512-C is activated in response todetection of the contact 518 because the period of time between time 552and time 556 is above a threshold (the length of time window 560-A);time 556 is outside of time window 560-A. The effects of the activationinclude, for example, the hiding of the keyboard 504, as illustrated inFIG. 5G. If the contact 518 is detected at time 554, then button 512-Cis prevented from being activated in response to detection of thecontact 518 because the period of time between time 552 and time 554 isequal to or below the threshold; time 554 is on or inside of time window560-A. In this case, the keyboard 504 is not hidden, and UI 500Fcontinues to be displayed.

Some operations in method 600 may be combined and/or the order of someoperations may be changed. While the above discussion of FIGS. 6A-6B(and the discussion below of FIG. 7) uses the terms “buttons,” and “softkeyboards,” other embodiments of methods 600 and 700 are applicable touser-initiated activations of objects other than buttons, such asnon-keyboard icons. Furthermore, while method 600 describesconditionally and temporarily disabling the activation of certainbuttons, also called conditional deactivation, other embodiments ofmethod 600 are applicable to conditionally and temporarily enablingvarious buttons or other objects in the user interface of a device or ofan application being executed by a device, which may also be calledconditional activation. For example, in embodiments of method 600 inwhich the roles of operations 616 and 618 are reversed, the methodtemporarily and conditionally enables a particular set of buttons (e.g.,keyboard buttons or non-keyboard buttons) or objects in response toactivation of another button or object.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a method 700 of activating buttonsin accordance with some embodiments. Method 700 is performed at amultifunction device (e.g., device 300, FIG. 3, or portablemultifunction device 100, FIG. 1) with a display and a touch-sensitivesurface. In some embodiments, the display is a touch screen display andthe touch-sensitive surface is on the display.

As described below, method 700 provides an intuitive way to activatebuttons. The method reduces the cognitive burden on a user whenactivating buttons, thereby creating a more efficient human-machineinterface. For battery-operated computing devices, enabling a user toactivate buttons faster and more efficiently conserves power andincreases the time between battery charges.

The device displays (702) a soft keyboard having a plurality of buttonsincluding a plurality of unconditionally enabled buttons and one or moreconditionally enabled buttons. For example, in FIG. 5A, keyboard 504 isdisplayed on touch screen 112. Keyboard 504 includes buttons 510 andbuttons 512, one or more of which (e.g., button 512-C) are conditionallyenabled. As another example, in FIG. 5H, keyboard 520 is displayed ontouch screen 112. Keyboard 520 includes unconditionally enabled buttons522 and buttons 512, one or more of which are conditionally enabledbuttons.

The device detects (704) a first input with a respective unconditionallyenabled button at a first time. For example, in FIG. 5B, contact 514(the first input) is detected at time 552 at location 514-A, whichcorresponds to unconditionally enabled button 510-C.

In response to detecting the first input at the first time (706), thedevice activates (708) the respective unconditionally enabled button anddisables (710) at least one of the conditionally enabled buttons for apredefined period of time commencing from the first time. For example,in FIG. 5B, the device responds to the detection of contact 514 atlocation 514-A at time 552 by activating button 510-C. The effects ofthe activation include insertion of the character “e” 516 into inputtext 506 and movement of the cursor 508 to position 508-B. Further, inresponse to detection of contact 514, button 512-C is disabled duringtime window 560-A commencing from time 552.

The device detects (712) a second input with a conditionally enabledbutton disabled in response to the first input, the second input beingdetected at a second time that is within the predefined period of time.For example, in FIG. 5F, contact 518 is detected at time 554, which iswithin time window 560-A, at location 518-C, which corresponds to button512-C, which is disabled in response to detection of contact 514 at time552.

In response to detecting the second input at the second time, the devicedisregards (714) the second input. For example, the keyboard 504 is nothidden despite the contact 518 at location 518-C (i.e., UI 500Fcontinues to be displayed); contact 518 at location 518-C isdisregarded.

The above described methods and apparatus for implementing conditionallyenabled buttons can be utilized, in other embodiments, to implementconditionally enabled or conditionally disabled keys, button or otherobjects in user interfaces other than soft keyboards.

The operations in the information processing methods described above maybe implemented by running one or more functional modules in informationprocessing apparatus such as general purpose processors or applicationspecific chips. These modules, combinations of these modules, and/ortheir combination with general hardware (e.g., as described above withrespect to FIGS. 1A, 1B and 3) are all included within the scope ofprotection of the invention.

For example, the operations depicted in FIGS. 6A, 6B and 7 may beimplemented by components depicted in FIGS. 1A-1C. For example, “detecta first input with a first button at a first time” (604) may beimplemented by event sorter 170, event recognizer 180, and event handler190. Event monitor 171 in event sorter 170 detects a contact on atouch-sensitive display 112, and event dispatcher module 174 deliversthe event information to application 136-1. In this case, application136-1 includes methods and graphical user-interfaces for manipulating asoft keyboard and text display region. A respective event recognizer 180of application 136-1 compares the event information to respective eventdefinitions 186, and determines whether a first contact at a firstlocation on the touch-sensitive surface corresponds to a predefinedevent or sub-event, such as selection of a particular button or key in asoft keyboard. When the predefined event or sub-event is detected, eventrecognizer 180 activates an event handler 180 associated with thedetection of a first contact. Event handler 180 may utilize or call dataupdater 176 or object updater 177 to update data or a text displayregion. Similarly, it would be clear to a person having ordinary skillin the art how other processes can be implemented based on thecomponents depicted in FIGS. 1A-1C.

The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has beendescribed with reference to specific embodiments. However, theillustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modificationsand variations are possible in view of the above teachings. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical applications, to therebyenable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention andvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A multifunction device, comprising: a touchscreen display; one or more processors; memory; and one or moreprograms, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory andconfigured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or moreprograms including instructions for: displaying a soft keyboard having aplurality of buttons including one or more unconditionally enabledbuttons and one or more conditionally enabled buttons, wherein eachrespective unconditionally enabled button of the one or moreunconditionally enabled buttons is always responsive to an activationinput on the respective unconditionally enabled button while the softkeyboard is displayed; detecting a first input with a first button at afirst time; detecting a second input with a second button at a secondtime after the first time, wherein the second button is a conditionallyenabled button; and in response to the detecting the second input withthe second button at the second time: in accordance with a determinationthat the period of time between the first time and the second time isabove a predefined threshold, activating the second button; and inaccordance with a determination that the period of time between thefirst time and the second time is below the predefined threshold,preventing the second button from being activated.
 2. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more conditionally enabled buttons comprisea button for hiding the soft keyboard.
 3. The device of claim 1, whereinthe one or more conditionally enabled buttons comprise a button forchanging a language associated with the soft keyboard.
 4. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the soft keyboard is associated with a first language,and wherein the one or more conditionally enabled buttons comprise abutton for switching to a soft keyboard associated with a secondlanguage.
 5. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or moreconditionally enabled buttons comprise a button for switching from analphabet keyboard to a numbers and symbols keyboard.
 6. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more conditionally enabled buttons comprisea button for switching from a numbers and symbols keyboard to analphabet keyboard.
 7. A method, comprising: at a multifunction devicewith a touch screen display: displaying a soft keyboard having aplurality of buttons including one or more unconditionally enabledbuttons and one or more conditionally enabled buttons, wherein eachrespective unconditionally enabled button of the one or moreunconditionally enabled buttons is always responsive to an activationinput on the respective unconditionally enabled button while the softkeyboard is displayed; detecting a first input with a first button at afirst time; detecting a second input with a second button at a secondtime after the first time, wherein the second button is a conditionallyenabled button; and in response to the detecting the second input withthe second button at the second time: in accordance with a determinationthat the period of time between the first time and the second time isabove a predefined threshold, activating the second button; and inaccordance with a determination that the period of time between thefirst time and the second time is below the predefined threshold,preventing the second button from being activated.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the one or more conditionally enabled buttons comprisea button for hiding the soft keyboard.
 9. The method of claim 7, whereinthe one or more conditionally enabled buttons comprise a button forchanging a language associated with the soft keyboard.
 10. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the soft keyboard is associated with a first language,and wherein the one or more conditionally enabled buttons comprise abutton for switching to a soft keyboard associated with a secondlanguage.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or moreconditionally enabled buttons comprise a button for switching from analphabet keyboard to a numbers and symbols keyboard.
 12. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the one or more conditionally enabled buttons comprisea button for switching from a numbers and symbols keyboard to analphabet keyboard.
 13. A non-transitory computer readable storage mediumstoring one or more programs, the one or more programs comprisinginstructions, which when executed by a multifunction device with a touchscreen display, cause the device to: display a soft keyboard having aplurality of buttons including one or more unconditionally enabledbuttons and one or more conditionally enabled buttons, wherein eachrespective unconditionally enabled button of the one or moreunconditionally enabled buttons is always responsive to an activationinput on the respective unconditionally enabled button while the softkeyboard is displayed; detect a first input with a first button at afirst time; detect a second input with a second button at a second timeafter the first time, wherein the second button is a conditionallyenabled button; and in response to the detecting the second input withthe second button at the second time: in accordance with a determinationthat the period of time between the first time and the second time isabove a predefined threshold, activate the second button; and inaccordance with a determination that the period of time between thefirst time and the second time is below the predefined threshold,prevent the second button from being activated.
 14. The storage mediumof claim 13, wherein the one or more conditionally enabled buttonscomprise a button for hiding the soft keyboard.
 15. The storage mediumof claim 13, wherein the one or more conditionally enabled buttonscomprise a button for changing a language associated with the softkeyboard.
 16. The storage medium of claim 13, wherein the soft keyboardis associated with a first language, and wherein the one or moreconditionally enabled buttons comprise a button for switching to a softkeyboard associated with a second language.
 17. The storage medium ofclaim 13, wherein the one or more conditionally enabled buttons comprisea button for switching from an alphabet keyboard to a numbers andsymbols keyboard.
 18. The storage medium of claim 13, wherein the one ormore conditionally enabled buttons comprise a button for switching froma numbers and symbols keyboard to an alphabet keyboard.